Bulbul Balloons (Bulbul Is What Brownies Are Called in India)

ASIA PACIFIC

Try some activities from the Western Hemisphere. You could try a craft, a recipe, a game, a song… Games

Japanese dodge ball Players are divided into two equal teams. The playing area is a big rectangle, divided in half. Each team gets one half. All but one player from each team starts in that team's half. The extra player starts outside the rectangle, behind the other team's side (thus, there is one player from the other team behind each team). The teams "janken" (rock-paper-scissors) to see who gets the ball first -- only one ball. The usual play -- try to hit a player from the other side (below the waist). Any player who is hit must go to the outside, joining the original "extra" player from his side. The outside players can also try to hit people, but they must be behind the back edge of the rectangle. If an "outside" player hits someone, he gets to go back in for his side. Last team with any players "in" wins.

Kongki Noli (Korean Jacks) One way we used five small stones. First of all, we threw all of them down on the floor. Then you picked one up with your fingers and tossed it into the air. You had to pick another one up and then catch the one you threw in the air. Then you picked each of them up in turns until you’d picked them all up. The second round you played, you picked two stones up at a time. The third round you played, you picked three of them up, then you picked the last one up. The fourth round you picked four of them up… it’s a competition to see who can get the furthest.

Bulbul balloons (Bulbul is what brownies are called in India) Bulbuls sit in two lines facing each other. Each Bulbul's feet must touch those of the player sitting opposite to her. She must not move them during the game. The Leader throws a balloon between the players and each side must try to hit it over the heads of the opposite line. If it touches the floor behind the line, it is counted as a goal to the team facing in that direction. After each goal, or if the balloon goes out at either end, the Flock throws it again.

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 1 Tapatan (from the Philipines)

Each player needs three moving pieces. For example, one player uses 3 pennies, another player uses 3 buttons.

The game is played on the nine points where the lines meet. (See playing grid below. The circles are the "points".)

Players take turns putting their pieces on an empty point. This continues until all three pieces of each player are placed on the game board.

Player 1 moves one piece along a line to the next empty point. The pieces can be moved up or down or diagonally. Jumping over the pieces is not allowed. Player 2 does the same and they continue to take turns.

To win, a player must make a row of three across, up, down, or diagonally. (Hey, just like noughts and crosses!) If neither player can get three in a row, the game is called a draw.

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 2 Crafts

Origami (Japan) Try some origami – you could try the jumping frog below and have a frog race! Or the Japanese doll in a kimono.

Mehndi Try henna hand painting – maybe using eyebrow pencils (you can get these and some patterns from Sandra) or face paints.

Jam jar lanterns In Singapore there is a “Lantern festival” where it is traditional for children to make and display brightly lit lanterns. Make a lantern or two – maybe from covering a jam jar with thick paper with stars cut out and then putting a nightlight inside so the light flickers through the stars.

Other activities

Put on a puppet show Puppetry is a very strong tradition worldwide, particularly in countries like Indonesia where people sometimes watch shadow puppet plays when we would go to the cinema. Make puppets and use them to tell a story to Rainbows, Brownies or the rest of the unit.

Clothes Can you get someone to show you how to wear a sari or a kimono? Or work it out from a book? Maybe you could do an Asian/Pacific fashion show??

Kites Make a kite (traditional in China, Japan and Thailand) and fly it.

Mudwamp (Australia) Go on a penny hike, collect natural objects and make a mudwamp – essentially it's any mythical creature you can create out of seedpods, fallen leaves, twigs, rocks even. To do a penny hike, go to your starting point and then flip a coin – heads means you go left, tails you go right. Whenever you come to a junction do the same until you’ve gone as far as you want to go, then find your way back!

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 3 Japanese doll

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 4 All for a Paisa Act out this story from Bangladesh

THERE lived in the valley a very wealthy merchant who was not at all happy with his only son. The boy showed no signs of intelligence or creativity, much less any willingness to work. His mother always thought the best of him, however, and was constantly making excuses for him.

When the lad reached the age to marry, his mother begged the merchant to seek a proper wife for him. The merchant, however, was too much ashamed of his lazy son, and in his own mind had fully decided never to have him married. But the mother had set her heart on this. It was the one thing that she had been looking forward to for years. To have her son remain a bachelor all his life would be unthinkable. She simply would not agree to this for a moment.

And so she urged excuses for her son. She claimed to have now and again noticed extraordinary qualities of wisdom and intelligence in him. Her speaking in this way only annoyed the merchant.

"Look here," the merchant said to his wife one day, when she had been praising her son, "I have heard this many times before, but you have never once proved it. I do not believe there is a particle of truth in anything that you say. Mothers are blind. However, to satisfy you, I will give the fool another chance. Send for him, and give him this one one small coin, this pàisa. Tell him to go to the bazaar, and with this one pàisa to buy one item. That one item must be something to eat, something to drink, something to chew on, something to plant in the garden, and some food for the cow."

The mother told the boy those instructions, gave him the coin, and the boy left. When he came to the river, he became alarmed and wondered, "What can be bought for only one pàisa -- to eat and drink and do all the other things my mother asks for? Surely this is an impossible task!"

At that moment the daughter of an ironsmith came up. Seeing the lad's unhappy expression, she asked him what was the matter. He told everything his mother had ordered him to do. "I know what you can do," she said. “Go and buy a watermelon with one pàisa," said the girl. "It provides something to eat, something to drink, something to chew upon, something to plant in the garden, and some food for the cow. Give it to your parents, and they will be pleased."

And so this is exactly what the boy did. When the merchant's wife saw the cleverness of her son she was very glad. "Look," she said to her husband as soon as he came home, "this is our son's work."

"Actually, mother," said the boy, "the daughter of an ironsmith advised me to do this." Nevertheless, the father was impressed that the lad had found such a fine solution. And so they invited the family of the ironsmith to their house for dinner. Both parents were pleased to see love bloom between the two young people. And so the daughter of the ironsmith married the merchant's son, and the lad became a hard-working young husband, and they all lived happily ever after.

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 5 Food to make and eat!

 Have a kiwi competition… how many different ways can you use or eat a kiwi fruit??

 Can you get hold of some Japanese rice crackers to try?

Indian Sweets Ingredients: Method: condensed milk 1. Put a small amount of condensed milk into a small bowl. dessicated coconut 2. Add a handful of dessicated coconut, a few raisins and raisins chopped nuts. chopped nuts 3. Mix together. icing sugar 4. Form into small balls with the hands. 5. Coat with icing sugar and leave to set.

New Zealand Pavlova

The Shell:

2 egg whites 3/4 tsp. vanilla 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar 2/3 cup sugar (or less, to taste)

Place the egg whites in a small mixing bowl and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, draw a 10 inch circle on a piece of wax paper and place (writing-side down) on a baking sheet. Variation: Draw 7 four inch circles on the wax paper.

Add vanilla and cream of tartar to egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed until very stiff peaks form and sugar is almost dissolved (about 5 minutes).

Using the back of a spoon, spread meringue onto the circle, building the sides up to form a bowl.

Bake in a 300F oven for 35 minutes. Turn off the oven and let shell dry in the oven, with the door closed for one hour. Remove the shell from baking sheet and pull off wax paper. Store in an airtight container. Will keep indefinitely.

Suggested fillings: The traditional filling is simply fresh fruit and whipped cream and topped with fruit sauce. Another good one is ice cream, nuts, fruit and sauce. You can top the Pavlova with anything you desire. Have fun.

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 6 Lamingtons (from Australia) It is best to make the cake the day before you want to ice (and eat) the Lamingtons, as fresh cake is too crumbly and hard to handle.

The cake Ingredients Method 200g soft margarine 1. Soften 200g of margarine in a bowl with a 200g self raising flour wooden spoon. 1 teaspoon baking powder 2. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and 200g caster sugar mix into the margarine with the wooden spoon. 3 eggs 3. Add the 200g sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon vanilla milk and beat it all together for 1 minute. essence 4. Line a lamington tin (a flat cake tin about 3 tablespoons milk 25x30cm with short sides) or two 20cm round tins with baking paper. 5. Spread the cake mix into the tin(s) and bake at 180C (350F) for about 35 mins. 6. Let the cake cool on a wire rack and store it wrapped or in a tin until you are ready to ice it.

Icing the lamingtons: Ingredients Method 250g icing sugar 1. Cut the cake into squares. (Traditionally, this 2 tablespoons cocoa recipe makes 24 lamingtons. Purists would sandwich 1 cup warm water two slices together with jam before dipping in the 100g desiccated coconut icing mixture. It's easier to make them much smaller - about 50 pieces.)

2. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Add the warm water and mix until the icing is smooth (and runny). 3. Take a cube of cake. Dip it into the icing mix so that it is covered all over. (NB it should not soak in the icing mix or you will get very soggy lamingtons and run out of icing.) Let any excess icing mix drip off the cake before rolling in coconut. 4. Leave on a wire rack to dry. Finish the remaining cubes of cake in the same way.

Lamingtons (cheat's version) Melt some chocolate, and dip small squares of sponge cake so they are coated with it. Sprinkle with dessicated coconut and leave to cool on a wire rack.

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 7 Songs Learn or practice a song and teach or lead it at a unit campfire.  Feeling free (Australia)  Kookaburra (New Zealand)  Cuddly Koalas (New Zealand)  Those hazy lazy feelings (Malaysia), found in “Something old, something new”  When the birds are calling by the blue lagoon (Australia)

Try the Maori stick dance, or a Haka

Think up your own activities

These countries are all in the Asia Pacific region – can you think of another activity to do which comes from one or more of these countries? Australia New Zealand Bangladesh Pakistan Brunei Darussalam Papua New Guinea Cambodia Philippines Cook Islands Samoa Fiji Singapore Hong Kong Solomon Islands India Sri Lanka Japan Taiwan Kiribati Thailand Korea Tonga Malaysia Tuvalu Maldives Vanuatu Nepal

GFI Asia Pacific – Page 8